


Kabuki Mask, The

by Ursula



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-09-30
Updated: 2001-09-30
Packaged: 2018-11-20 09:40:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11333184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ursula/pseuds/Ursula
Summary: Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived atThe Basement, which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onThe Basement's collection profile.





	Kabuki Mask, The

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

The Kabuki Mask by Ursula

Title: The Kabuki Mask  
Author/pseudonym: Ursula  
Fandom: X Files  
Genre: Slash  
Pairing: Skinner/Krycek (Mention of Mulder)  
Rating: NC-17  
Status: New  
Archive: Anywhere, as a complete story. If you have a constructive critique and wish to use a portion, contact me directly.  
E-mail address for feedback: or   
Series/Sequel: Is this story part of a series: No  
Other websites: My page at RATB, thanks to Ned & Leny: http://www.squidge.org/terma/ursula/ursula.htm  
Disclaimers: X Files belongs to Chris Carter, until we dethrone him! Viva la Revolucion! On the other hand, it's love and hate. He did give us all three and we get more Krycek. Just a taste.  
Notes: Thanks to Karen as usual for a great beta.  
A Kabuki mask is not a real mask but refers to extremely stylized makeup used in the performance. The one Alex wears in DeadAlive is the demon configuration.  
Time Frame: Season Eight: Massive Spoilers for Dead Alive

* * *

Weary, he was so weary. The burden of the day...hell, two days run together into one roller coaster ride of highs and lows had drained him. Wryly, Walter smiled. The tough kept going...well, he was tough and maybe just too stubborn-dumb to ever just lie down like the proverbial camel. As he carefully hung his overcoat in the closet, he heard the creak of a chair. His gun was in his hand without even thinking about it and he aimed it right between Krycek's eyes. If he had fired, it would have permanently erased that small wrinkle that crinkled over the snip of nose.

Recognizing his demon, Walter grimaced and put the gun back in the holster, hanging both in their spot. "Thought you'd be here."

"Then why did it take you so long to get home?" Alex questioned.

The leather coat was draped across the couch back. Alex's shoes were paired next to the fireplace, neatly lined up. The socks were tucked inside one of them. Alex was dressed in black sweater and denim jeans, open at the top, a hint of flesh visible where the soft wool had ridden up and the denim had parted. One naked foot extended outward. The other was tucked behind Alex's ankle. Alex leaned his chin against his hand. The left arm was positioned on the arm of the chair. Walter imagined it ached after that daredevil driving and the scuffle with Doggett.

Walter could see the lines feathering outwards from the eyes and the dark circles beneath. Alex was still beautiful, but the life he led was marking him.

"I was cleaning up the mess you made, Alex. Did you know that one of those cars you hit in the garage was Kersh's?" Walter asked.

"Really? Damn, I'm good," Alex exclaimed and he meant it.

"I'm going to go change. Make me a drink and a sandwich. Unless you ate all of the roast beef that was in the fridge?"

"No, I've just been waiting," Krycek answered.

Looking critically at his lover's unshaven chin and the blood dried on his lip, Walter chided, "You should have used the time to clean up."

"After," Alex said.

"We'll talk about that," Walter replied.

Moments later, Walter lifted his face to the shower's driving heat. The water pummeled life back into him. His broad strong hands soaped his body and lingered. His cock responded with a twitch, enlivened by the expresso-like jolt of Alex's presence. He'd expected him from the moment that nanobytes hit him. Even as his capillaries had strained, as if the river of his blood strove to burst the banks of his flesh, some distant part of him screamed Alex's name. He could see why some came to crave pain and humiliation...the paired association with sex until one became the other in a ritual-mating dance. Nanobytes meant Krycek...not his Alex, of course. It was the other, the demon who still wielded some dark seduction of his spirit. Yet Walter knew that when Krycek dropped the Kabuki mask, his Alex would be there, tender, loving, a vortex of desire.

Toweling dry, Walter stepped out and stretched again, feeling the stiffness of the difficult day. He picked up a pair of jeans from his dresser, old ones, soft with age and too thin to even think of wearing outside, but he still liked them. They fit like a second skin, clinging to his ass and worn white over the crotch, his cock nestling in a pocket of fabric that kept the memory of its shape.

Alex had sandwiches made and drinks waiting. He stood up as Walter entered, his eyes exploring the naked chest. "Nice," he admired.

"Someday you're going to push a button on that thing and I'll have a heart attack. No more scenery for you to admire," Walter reproached.

"If you think I don't check your medical reports like a auditor looking for a cheat, you're crazy. You have a heart as good as a nineteen-year-old. Your grand pa lived to be one hundred and one. He still drove himself to church the week before he died," Alex replied.

Walter sat on the couch and patted the seat beside him. "Get over here."

As Alex came to rest beside him, Walter picked up a sandwich, approving of the horseradish and the minimal fixings. Good beef deserved to be appreciated on its own. Alex had already started. They ate steadily in silence.

Finished, Walter went to the kitchen with the plates and glasses, taking care of them before going back. Hands on hip, he took in Alex's appearance again and said, "If you're sleeping in my bed, you need to shower and shave. I see that Doggett got at least one punch in."

"Man's a bulldog. He just wouldn't quit," Alex answered, ruefully exploring the swollen lip.

"You're in his book now. The man is a bulldog, don't let him get his teeth into you," Walter chided. "If there's ever a need for an instruction manual on how to make enemies and influence them to homicide, you have the contract. Been tested lately?"

"Yeah, not that my hand is likely to give me anything," Alex answered.

"Oh, you too?" Walter said, as he walked over and held out his hand to invite Alex up.

Silently, Alex rose, cooperating as Walter undressed him. There were no new scars, but he was lean, refined by adversity to the bone of him. Had he been on the run again or just too busy to eat?

"I don't suppose you want to tell me what this was all about?" Walter asked.

"Not unless you're ready to walk with me, Walter? Do you want to abandon everything to hear the truth, Walter?" Alex asked, his voice vibrating with passion.

God help him, he had to think before he answered, push away the leap his heart made.

Walter said, "I have to take care of Mulder and Scully...Doggett now too. He's gotten on Kersh's shit list."

"Then we play the game and wear the roles that we do," Alex said ruefully. "They jerk my leash. I jerk yours. I thought it was over with Spender, but it wasn't. I should have known that the shadows have shadows in my world. I don't like hurting you, Walter. I really don't."

"Could have fooled me," Walter said harshly.

(((((((((( o))))))))))))

"Sit down on the toilet. I want to get the fur off your face," Walter said.

"With the straight edge?" Alex asked, his eyes gleaming.

Shrugging, Walter took out the razor. It had been his father's. He'd learn to use it mostly as a stunt, but the first time, a thousand years ago, when Young Agent Krycek had seemed quite naïve, Alex had been so turned on by watching Walter shave with it that he often used it. The first time that he shaved Alex with it, his lover had nearly cut his throat when he had shuddered and come from whatever was happening in that delightfully twisted brain of his.

Tilting Alex's head upwards, Walter laved on the shaving foam. The sensuous contrast of the soft skin, the rough stubble, and the slippery foam thrilled him. Alex arched back further as Walter picked up the razor. Alex let out a small sound, mewling like a kitten from hell.

"Shh, hold very still. I should hate to slip," Walter said. He half suspected that every time he did this; Alex did expect him to slip, end it, and stop the nanobytes with the slice of a blade. He never would. He couldn't. Kill him and Alex would never leave him...

Hell, as if there was one chance that anything either of them could do or would to break the chain.

The shining steel made a path down one cheek. Walter's fingers stroked Alex's skin this way and that. The blade moved firmly and skillfully, without hesitation.

Only a glowing line of green showed from beneath the luxuriant lashes. He offered his throat like Isaac. Carefully, moving the blade over the neck, Walter almost held his breath.

Alex moved slightly, maybe deliberately, causing Walter to draw a line of blood. He moved the razor away and said, "Do that again and I am putting the razor away and the next time I shave you will be with a Lady Gillette."

Laughing, Alex nodded, allowing Walter to press a tissue to the scratch until the bleeding stopped. Walter finished shaving Alex and kissed his lips, careful of the cut that Doggett had inflicted.

"I want you to punish me. Hurt me as I hurt you," Alex pled in the same tone he might use to ask to be fucked.

"You want me to make it easy for you, but not this time. I won't. Come on, take a bath," Walter replied.

Walter pulled up a stool to sit comfortably after Alex stepped into the tub. Alex washed the rest of the foam and scraped hair from his face and then subsided back. Walter poured shampoo on his hand and slowly massaged it in to the thick satiny cap of hair. Once Walter had dreamed of Alex as Rapunzel in his tower, his sable hair long enough to make a glossy stair for Mulder and himself. If he could somehow keep Alex captive, the deadly face would never return. Walter rinsed the soft shining hair free, pressing his lips down on the silken stuff as he finished.

Proceeding downward, Walter made a swift inventory of the scars that truncated the arm. Well, despite his down-at-the-heel appearance, Alex had not been neglecting that. It looked clean and the end was white fleshed, not red with irritation. Walter watched Alex's face turn away as the stump was washed. Denial was written on his face. 'This isn't part of me.'

As the sponge moved lower, Alex relaxed, offering himself to the slow strokes. "Wash me clean, Walter. Wash it all away," he said in a low invocation.

"I wish I could," Walter mourned, "If there were world enough and time."

For a moment, the mask dropped back over Alex's face. He sneered and said, "Yet you fuck me."

The water ran from the sponge as Walter's knuckles went white. He took a quick breath and replied, "I've never fucked you, Alex. We make love."

The sneer fled and Alex's expression softened. "I know."

Alex rose, arm across his chest, a male Aphrodite rising from the waves. He glistened with water, shone with it as if he glowed with some inward incandescence. Walter caught his breath and wondered if he'd been under some sort of spell from the first moment that he had seen Alex? If so, it was not like the nanobytes, it was mythos, a natural madness old as time.

"Wait, I want to get in with you," Walter said.

His body enveloped Alex's as he sat down in the still warm water. He leaned his face against Alex's head, breathing him deep, cell deep, filling all the deep empty places within himself with his beautiful one. Tears stung at his eyes.

'You can never hold him, Walter, never,' he thought, but his arms tightened around Alex all the same. Closing his eyes, he felt Alex's head resting against his chest; his lover's weight was awkward, bruising, delight and pain in one beautiful package, his Alex.

Violent shivering woke Walter. He couldn't believe they had fallen asleep like that in the tub. The water was cold around them of course. Walter had gone numb where Alex's weight rested against him. Alex was still sleeping despite his shivering which was the source of the wake up call.

"Come on, Alex, wake up. Let's get out of here and go to bed," Walter said.

As he gave homage to his lover's wet and naked body, Walter felt his blood stir. He wanted him despite the weariness. Alex turned to him, smoke in his green eyes becoming moss soft as he offered his lips. Walter ran the tips of his fingers trembling along the line of Alex's jaw. Alex took a deep breath as they leaned into each other. Their mouths met like flames leaping, a flare of light and heat, breathless, not needing to breathe, they fed upon each other.

In bed, they forgot the balance of power and there was only pleasure. There was only the touch of one hand. The caresses of two hands. Eyes wide open as a mouth gasped as if in agony. The intimate joining of two bodies into one. Walter never knew which he liked best. To lie with Alex fitted to his body as if tailor-made for him or to climb the stairs to paradise between his outstretched legs so he could see the fierce passion in Alex's face. Yet again, to be taken, to feel Alex more helpless in taking than in being taken...as he thrust and thrust again, the sharp edge of his desire buried in Walter's flesh, encompassed, and finally satiated.

Even in sleep, Alex's face was merely a frieze of calm, covering the immolating truth below. Walter felt like a mortal in love with a god. He wondered why the Greek myths never told what happened to a mortal toyed with by the deities, who merely tried to resume his old life? He knew he would never be the same...

(((((((((( o))))))))))))

Waking, Walter saw Alex sitting on the edge of the bed, the sheet had fallen from his torso, draping in white contrast across his powerful thighs. His head bowed slightly forward, catching the light across his profile. He seemed lit by some inner radiance, his face half in shadow and half in dawn's light.

"I have to go," Alex said, "I can't stay. There's a man I have to meet who may have information."

Alex's face held no clues to his mission. He could have been gathering evidence or destroying it. He said on occasion that he was working against the aliens, that everything he did had some meaning in the coming battle. Perhaps, but why then did it seem as if Alex was some destructive demon, a poltergeist that haunted them?

                                      

As Alex walked from the building, he turned around for a look back. His face was defenseless for that moment, shot through with longing. Then as swiftly mutable as the remorseless wind, the Kabuki mask settled down.

A killer walked away. As he did, Walter watched from the balcony and he wondered. He wondered which was Alex's true face and which was the mask. He realized it didn't matter. His loyal heart loved forever.

The end

  
Archived: September 29, 2001 


End file.
